Pray for Outreach Efforts in Guinea

One of my favorite things about my work is conducting evangelistic outreaches in Guinea’s villages. This includes door-to-door visitations, coordinating short-term medical teams, presenting open-air messages, setting up tent crusades, and showing films conveying the love of Jesus, the latter of which I do almost every weekend.

After my wife, Anja, and I returned to Guinea last fall from home assignment, I received a number of requests to show evangelistic films in local villages. We were booked until March.

Ebola Fears

Yet during the past two weekends, after we had been welcomed, visited with the village chief, and received permission to show a film, we were asked to leave. Last weekend, a couple of rocks were thrown to encourage our departure. This weekend, the rumor started that our film projector was spewing the Ebola virus into the village. The chief apologized but asked us to leave.

Jon often conducts evangelistic programs in Guinea’s villages.

This isn’t a matter of villagers being prudent in their response to the epidemic. Many are not following protocols to prevent its spread, such as washing hands in bleach water before touching others or shaking hands during greetings. Markets are just as crowded as they were before the Ebola scare. And local nightly dances are just as popular and loud as ever.

Spiritual Darkness

I believe our film evangelism is being prevented so spiritual darkness can continue to reign. As our U.S. CAMA colleagues in Guinea, Stephen and Lori Albright, said this fall: “Darkness covers so much of this land, and we know the real battle is in the spiritual realm.” Please pray.

Adapted from a report by Jon Erickson, who serves in Guinea with CAMA Zending (The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Holland).  CAMA Zending is not under U.S. Alliance leadership, which temporarily withdrew all Alliance personnel from Guinea in October, 2014, due to Ebola’s rapid spread.

U.S. CAMA (Compassion and Mercy Associates) is the relief and Development arm of the U.S. Alliance.

Update: In mid-January, the Albrights returned to Guinea. They will continue Ebola awareness training through the national church and lay the groundwork for additional Alliance workers to return in the near future.

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Learn More

Read this and other articles about Ebola and the Alliance response on the CAMA Web site.

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